Sir Richard Kyrle (c.1610 – 31 August 1684) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

politician who briefly served as Governor of the

Province of Carolina The Province of Carolina was a colony of the Kingdom of England (1663–1707) and later the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1712) that existed in North America and the Caribbean from 1663 until the Carolinas were partitioned into North and Sou ...

in 1684.

Biography

Kyrle was born in England, the son of James Kyrle and Ann Waller of Walford Court,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. By 1659 he had moved to Ireland and was recorded in a town census in

County Cork County Cork () is the largest and the southernmost Counties of Ireland, county of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, named after the city of Cork (city), Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster ...

. On 19 May 1661 he was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

, and the same year he was elected to the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until the end of 1800. The upper house was the Irish House of Lords, House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, ...

as a Member of Parliament for

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

. Under the

Act of Settlement 1662 The Act of Settlement 1662 ( 14 & 15 Chas. 2. Sess. 4. c. 2 (I)) was an act of the Irish Parliament in Dublin. It was a partial reversal of the Cromwellian Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652, which punished Irish Catholics and Royalists ...

, Kyrle was granted the lands of Dromaneen Castle; the castle itself had been destroyed during the

Irish Confederate Wars The Irish Confederate Wars, took place from 1641 to 1653. It was the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of civil wars in Kingdom of Ireland, Ireland, Kingdom of England, England and Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland, all then ...

. Around this time he built an ironworks at Clonmeen; this had ceased to be active by 1685. On 29 April 1684, Kyrle was made a

landgrave Landgrave (, , , ; , ', ', ', ', ') was a rank of nobility used in the Holy Roman Empire, and its former territories. The German titles of ', ' ("margrave"), and ' ("count palatine") are of roughly equal rank, subordinate to ' ("duke"), and su ...

and commissioned to be governor by the

Lords Proprietors A lord proprietor is a person granted a royal charter for the establishment and government of an English colony in the 17th century. The plural of the term is "lords proprietors" or "lords proprietary". Origin In the beginning of the Europe ...

of the Province of Carolina. He and his wife, Mary Jephson, arrived in the colony in late July or early August, but his short tenure as governor was ended by his death at the end of August 1684. His wife died the following month.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kyrle, Richard Year of birth uncertain 1684 deaths 17th-century English politicians Colonial governors of South Carolina Irish MPs 1661–1666 Knights Bachelor Landgraves of Carolina Members of the Parliament of Ireland (pre-1801) for County Cork constituencies